


Trooper study - Skate and Jat

by Munnin



Series: Red Mist Stories [11]
Category: Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003) - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-02-17
Packaged: 2019-03-19 16:53:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13708662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Munnin/pseuds/Munnin
Summary: Flying is all about balance





	Trooper study - Skate and Jat

Fordo had a working understanding of the Force – the light and the dark. The calm and the furious. He often wondered how that could be applied to his pilot and co-pilot. 

To say Skate had a temper was to say space was big and stars were warm. But it was more than that. He was constantly on the move, constantly in action. Whether it was prepping the ship, or flying, or running maintenance – he was always doing something. 

That was where the temper came from – Skate’s need for constant productive action. And when others dithered or were disorganised, it chaffed at Skate. It irritated him when others couldn’t see the logical path to do something. Or when they could, but didn’t do it what way. 

And the rest of the squad knew it. Baiting Skate was a bit of a game. But for all their teasing, they knew how far to take it. Most of the time. 

And Jat most of all understood that it wasn’t an act. 

Jat was the stillness to Skate’s movement. The calm to Skate’s fury. But not at odds to it as the light and the dark of the Force was. 

Jat followed Skate’s logic easily, could see the process without needing to be told. It was why they flew together so naturally. They worked in tandem, quite sharing half sentences that made no sense to the rest of the squad. 

But beyond the mission, their dichotomous personalities worked well together within the squad too. Where Skate was quiet and introspective during their downtime, Jat was chatty and social. Skate’s humour was as sarcastic as Jat’s was light. 

And what Skate could see, Jat could explain. 

Jat explained it to Fordo one day, after a particularly messy mission. Even with everything going wrong around them, Skate stayed on top of things, moving from one problem to another without pause, shouting clipped orders he had no time to explain. And no-one had teased, because the middle of a life or death mission was not the time to argue with the pilot, even if the orders didn’t seem to make sense. 

“Think of it as a map in his head.” Jat explained, keeping still as Fernie applied bacta to the blaster burn across his thigh. “As events branch off, paths become blocked or impassable, he can see a line to where we need to be. A line that gets us all back safely. He’s constantly judging the odds, weighing the options. It doesn’t always make sense to us but he can see it in his head.”

Fordo had considered that for some time, watching the pilot run and re-run diagnostic on the ship, listing damage and conferring with Linc on repairs. Skate could see the map of possibilities in his head, and Jat could follow it. It might not always make sense to the rest of them but the squad’s pilots always got them home.

**Author's Note:**

> Red Mist Squad based on characters created by Joe Hogan for the [ The Siren of Dathomir](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3z0kyf53Ds) and [ Panic Over Muunilinst ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3-_EnhMEDE). Stolen, run away with, and abused with his permission.


End file.
